Very high Calcium, low sodium, low phosphorus soil test results

Hello all,

I ponied up for a soil test and I was actually surprised by the results.  My states soil testing center didn´t have everything I wanted in one test, so I ended up doing two so forgive the redundancy here.

I was actually a bit surprised by the ph as I suspected it to be much more alkaline as the soil is shallow and just on the surface of limestone which does explain the high calcium number.

My questions going forward are the following:

1. Phosphorus.  I am hoping to start tractoring chickens soon, and I wonder if their manure will help to add enough phosphorus over the years to help bring that level up or is some other amendment warranted?  There are some areas where I need to plant a windbreak (nitrogen fixers, ie mesquite, locust, etc.) ASAP and I probably won´t have animal assistance before getting that going. Is an amendment going to speed up their growth at all?

2. Will adding sulfur ever help or will the extreme amount of calcium just neutralize it?

3. Sodium is shown as low, but is there ever a time to have more sodium?

4. They didn´t test for CEC but rather for conductivity. Is there a way to calculate out the CEC value from the conductivity, or is there not much value into trying to find the CEC for this case.  

Thank you for any opinions and feedback!  

Hi, Cameron

I can't help you much as we have never had a soil test done.

I believe in building soil similar to this:

Jordan said, "Plant lots of flowers. Not only do they unlock, accumulate and turn phosphorus into available P. It will bring lots of insect life from orher places than your property. which will bring more minerals to your place.

Also dynamic accumulator plants help.

Mycorrhizal fungi will help make more use of what P there is too.

https://permies.com/t/15882/add-phosphoros-potassium-calcium-naturally#140040

This thread is one of Dr Bryant Redhawks great threads so it might help:

https://permies.com/t/67969/quest-super-soil

Thank you so much for the reply. I will be tracking down those links.  Aside from the house, most of this land has been left natural and we have LOTS of wildflowers come spring.  It makes me think that may be why the phosphorus is not as bad as it is.  I have some elemental sulfur and I will try adding it to the garden area to see if there is any discernible difference but with so much calcium, I don't know if it will just neutralize or not.  

Can to much calcium be toxic to plants?

Too much Calcium makes it difficult for the plant to absorb Magnesium.  

On a small scale Epsom salts and a number of other products can raise magnesium levels.  

On a large scale adding tons of magnesium is less feasible.  Using livestock, manure, mulch, etc is the right idea because the biosphere will accumulate magnesium at greater levels than the soil where magnesium is deficient.  

Mycorrhizal fungi also play an important role in getting plants the magnesium they need.  

I did a soil test before the 2020 season and got very similar results.  I am stoked to follow this post. I did spread a small box of bone meal on my beds and it seemed to help? I noticed this mostly with the peppers.

Is there a cure for massive amounts of calcium? I have tons of magnesium too but now the post about calcium/magnesium and epsom salt makes me curious. My toms sure act like they need SOMETHING....

Thank you for the reply's!  Since I am high on magnesium already, I am a bit concerned about adding more.  I know ideally they should be at a six to one ratio to each other, but that would mean a ton of magnesium in this case.  I am trying adding elemental sulfur and once I get my chicken going, i am hoping that the manure will help with the phosphorus.  I know rock phosphate adds some, but is also bound up in calcium while super phosphate tends to leach out, but I might experiment in garden beds with small amounts to see if there is any noticeable difference as these types of amendments aren't my preference, but i know they can help in establishment.  In the garden areas, I will be adding a lot of compost and for the larger areas, I will try compost tea additions.  I've seen they sell seabird guano as well as a phosphate additive, so I might throw that in with the compost tea, maybe?  

Thanks again, and if anyone has good ideas about how to neutralize such high amounts of carbon, i am very interested.

I don’t know that very high calcium is necessarily a problem. I can’t imagine be as bad as low calcium. In your case, I would plant lots of things that uptake calcium, and lots of things that attract birds. Tomatoes really want calcium. I know of an anecdote about a volunteer tomato plant that was growing out of a crack in a dolomite driveway, and it gave the best harvest of the best tomatoes. Sunflowers are a great example of a bird attractor. The birds flying in will carry phosphorus with them.

    I wouldn’t focus of the calcium levels as a problem, if I were you. You have a limestone substrate, so they will be high whether you like it or not. You primarily need to improve your nitrogen, phosphate and organic matter levels. High-biomass nitrogen fixers that attract bugs and birds and like your soil pH are the name of the game. Coppice or pollard. That will get your soil built up.

If you wanted to plant something that prefers acidity, you could find a couple species of conifer that both acidify the soil and tolerate your current pH.